Single post in Implementing A 'Block' Feature
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cw; mentions of racism and white supremacy, on the issue of "just report cases of racism"
And @D33RG0D5, you pose your absolute denial of a block function, but you do not mention the ability for a version of this suggestion to give users a tool of filtering and accessibility. Are you against that too?
If the block function does not impede gameplay features in any way, but is rather a one way system which allows for the features I've mentioned in my previous post, is it still something you'd be fully against?
If yes, because of the concern of co-op shops: Yes this would shift the dynamic of co-op shops who exist before this sort of implementation, but co-op shops are also usually an undertaking done by people who have the ability to communicate with each other. Otherwise it would probably be difficult to make these co-op shops at all. Then, if not being the thread creator creates the issue of discrepancy in block lists, you have the ability to either communicate with your shop co-host to come to some sort of agreement there, or if you cannot settle this discrepancy and having people you've blocked interacting with your shop is completely out of the question for you, then you can ask to be the thread creator or make your own stand-alone shop. I'd argue that this problem does have its solutions.
If still yes, because there is CSS that can hide all about me's and trainer cards, then consider that this then becomes an all or nothing scenario. Useable maybe if having all of them hidden does not impede me more than it benefits me, but then again not if all I want to get rid of is f.ex. windmills, but I still want to see if any of my fellow users are selling an albino I'm looking for and do not have the time/ability to hunt for myself, f.ex.
This also does not tackle the issues with forums, unless there is CSS accessible enough for everyone to use that can block specific aspects, like one user's forum icon and only that user's forum icon. If there is I'd love to see it, and I mean this fully genuinely.
Again if anyone disagrees with me, I'd love to hear your take. Or if I'm unclear somewhere don't hesitate to ask for clarification. ^^
The issue with "just report racism, and staff will deal with it" is the fact that not all cases are so black and white. A racist can code and rephrase their wording in a way that gives them plausible deniability. Say if it became racists "in-language" to place a cherry emoji on their trainer card. How are you going to judge such cases? If you go ahead and ask someone "Is this cherry emoji in your trainer card there because you're racist?" nobody's going to say yes! Yet, you cannot prove that they're lying, and can you outright ban putting cherry emojis in your trainer card at all? No! The next day the emoji could have been changed to f.ex. the lipstick emoji, and you'd have to start all over again, going in circles indefinitely.
For a more realistic example say someone placed 88s all over their profile. White supremacists (who this user is signalling to that they stand with) and antifa (who's keeping an eye open for this due to prior education in the most common white supremacy dog whistles) can smell the "Heil Hitler" connotations coming from a mile away, but the user can say that that is not the intent and you'd have no way of absolutely telling if they're being truthful or not, and in terms of legality and site rules, your hands would then be bound.
It'd be great to tell someone "maybe don't put white supremacy dog whistles all over your profile", but you cannot enforce them from doing so without a breach of freedom of speech.
Avatar is an absolute unit drawn by me.
